Chrysalis

"I still don't understand why I have to be the one to wear this," Leeroy grumbled.

"You know exactly why," Brendant was having none of her sibling’s nonsense, "because we asked this crafter to make it to fit you, since you're the one most in need of extra protection."

Leeroy fidgeted and wiggled and the many, many different pieces of equipment were attached to her carapace by the fussy crafter, who constantly had to poke and prod the council member to get her to be still.

"Stop your fidgeting,” the crafter scolded, "the point of this armour is to keep you alive."

"That's why I don't like it," the soldier muttered.

"What was that, Leeroy?" Brendant demanded.

"Nothing! Nothing at all."

"You've been warned any number of times to adjust your attitude," Brendant told her wearily, "you aren't a hatchling anymore, stop acting like it. It's your responsibility to fight, yes, but also to do everything you can to preserve the investment the Colony has made in you. Do you think everyone is given complete core evolutions like you? Does every ant in our family receive the personal education of the Eldest? You need to stop being so selfish."

Leeroy endured this lecture in dignified silence, she'd heard the same thing many times before. At times she wondered if she was just built fundamentally different compared to the rest of her siblings. She just couldn't see things the same way they did. But the Eldest had spoken, and everyone appeared to accept their word. All Leeroy could do is continue to secretly plot and plan her own glorious contribution to the greatness of the Colony. Something that this new armour would actively seek to impede!

Already she hated it.

"There are five cores powering the enchantment matrix," the crafter was saying, "two of those are here and here," she thwacked the metal with an antenna to indicate the locations, "which help to regulate the weight of the heavier plates."

head where she finished tightening the straps for the

infused with earth mana and the cores help to enhance that stability and hardness. The idea is to give maximum protection to the vital areas, as well as preserve the mass

she beheld the completed product. Leeroy was a large tier four soldier, with a thick carapace that housed a powerful musculature. Even with the enchantments lightening the load, the full set of armour still

had to admit that she was impressed. Leeroy had been transformed from an indomitable soldier to something else

was afforded to the underside of the carapace. The idea was to keep the body low and charge forward, allowing the armour

incredible job of building an internal structure on the inside of the metal. The joints cunningly inserted would allow the armour to flex whilst the inner layer would transfer force from the armour to the carapace, dispersing the impact across a wider area

to do now but test it. Are you

tour around the indignant form of her test subject, checking straps and brushing her antennae lovingly over the plating one final

"It's ready."

to allow the

going to

in her chest. She needn't have worried, her work held up remarkably well. With her powerful

soldier observed as she

suit this heavy," the crafter informed her, "for other castes, such as the generals, a more lightweight

sense. Alright then Leeroy, time for revenge, let's

become enthused. She shook her body to settle the armour, still adjusting to the feel of it before she set her feet and charged. Although slow to get going, she

as she watched that charge. The power, the force, the

speed much reduced but the power of that charge was undeniable. Brendant braced herself as best she could, but it was for naught. When the fusion of steel and insect that Leeroy had become collided with her, Brendant was instantly bowled over. Unable to stop her own momentum, Leeroy charged

to extract the soldier, but the crafter was elated. This model of the armour was merely the first. In her eyes, it was a crude and brutish thing, lacking the elegance and with only a fraction of the raw strength